Expectations may have never been higher for the Southeast of Saline boys’ basketball program than they were heading into this season.
 
That’s what happens when you return every player off last year’s 22-4 team that finished third at the Class 3A, as the Trojans did this season.
 
“Outside expectations are, everybody thinks we should win it,” Southeast coach Bryson Flax said of this year’s 3A state championship. “We brought everybody back from a third-place team. But as competitors, we know nobody hands you anything. You’ve still got to go to work every day and our guys have really embraced that. They’ve embraced that if we want to get where we want to be, nobody’s going to give it to us. We’ve got to earn it.”
 
With just one game left in the regular season, Southeast of Saline has indeed embraced those expectations and the pressure that comes with them. Aside from a mid-season loss to Hugoton in the championship game of the Sterling Invitational, the Trojans have been nothing short of dominant this season in putting up an 18-1 record.
 
All but one of those wins has been by double digits with 12 by 20 or more points. The Trojans made a statement right out of the gate, too, beating two-time reigning 3A champion Hesston 56-46 in the season opener. It’s the Swathers’ only loss this season
 
“It was really good for us,” Flax said. “We knew coming in that they were going to have to figure some things out losing so much from the past two championship years. But Hesston is Hesston and it was only a matter of time before they got it rolling and obviously they have. It was a good win for us in terms of giving the guys confidence that we could compete night-in, night-out with about anybody.”
 
The Trojans followed with key December wins over NCAA rival Beloit, 4A power Abilene and two-time defending 2A champion Hillsboro – all by 18 or more points – and started the season with 10 straight wins. While the Hugoton loss at Sterling spoiled Southeast’s bid for an undefeated season, Flax called the 55-47 defeat a blessing in disguise.
 
“That was probably the best thing for our guys from the simple fact that we were feeling really good about ourselves,” Flax said. “Maybe too good. It gave us a chance to wake up and say, ‘If you want to compete in Hutchinson, these are the type of teams you’ll have to compete against.’”
 
In the eight wins since that loss, Southeast has only one win closer than 18 points, a 41-33 win over Beloit. On Monday, the Trojans had a big challenge on their hands taking on undefeated Class 2A Ellinwood, which boasts one of the top scorers in the state in senior Brit Dutton.
 
Dutton is averaging 25.8 points per game this season and had led the Eagles to a 17-0 heading into Monday’s showdown. And while Dutton enjoyed a big night against Southeast’s vaunted defense, scoring 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the field, the Trojans dominated in a 74-48 blowout victory.
 
“With Brit, you’re not going to stop him,” Flax said. “Our focus was that every shot he took, we wanted it to be contested, whether that was 35 feet from the rim or at the rim. I think we contested all but two of his shots. He earns 30 and had to work hard for it. And the second part of it we wanted to make sure we were really good everywhere else and not let the rest of the team step up and beat us.”
 

 
Eli Sawyers led the Trojans in the game with 25 points, while Luke Gebhardt added 15 points and Daniel Kejr chipped in 11 with 10 Trojans scoring overall. The game also was historic for Trojan senior Nakari Morrical-Palmer, who broke Southeast’s career assist record with three in the game giving him 283 in his career to break the old mark of 280 set by Ben Murray from 2013-17.
 
Sawyers is averaging a team-high 16.7 points per game this season and has moved to No. 3 on Southeast’s career scoring chart with 1,255 points. He’s only 156 points behind the No. 2 spot on the list, which is occupied by Flax, who played for the Trojans from 2003-07 before taking over as head coach.
 
Morrical-Palmer has added 13.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game this season and three other Trojans average at least 6.6 points per game. As a team, Southeast is averaging 63.4 points per game while giving up 40.9 per game.
 
Southeast followed the win over Ellinwood with a 63-41 win over Ellsworth on Tuesday that clinched the NCAA championship. With a win next Tuesday over Republic County, the Trojans will complete a two-year undefeated run in league play.
 
“That’s impressive no matter what league you’re in or who you’re playing,” Flax said. “If you can go 20-0 in league games, that’s a big deal. We haven’t really talked about it that much. We just want to be playing our best basketball right now and I feel we’re really, really close.
 
“We’ve been pushed and gotten different looks night-in, night out. What I’ve been impressed with this group is we’ve just stayed true to who we are. Some games we just put better talent on the floor, but the big focus is having no letdowns, being ourselves, being efficient and being good on the defensive end. We just want to keep it rolling.”
 
 
 
BASKETBALL
 

• Already the leading scorer in the state, Osage City’s Landon Boss continued his monster senior season with a pair of games of 40 or more last week. He started the week with a 43-point, 15-rebound effort in a 64-45 win over Rossville and then went for 40 points in a 57-54 win over one-loss Olpe on Friday.
• Wamego’s girls stayed unbeaten in North Central Kansas League play and improved to 16-1 overall with wins over Chapman (78-40) and Abilene (74-25) last week. Ashten Pierson averaged 22 points in the two wins, hitting 8 of 11 3-pointers while also added 8 steals and 4 assists, while Trista Hoobler was right behind at 21 points per game in the wins, going 4 of 9 from deep and adding 8 assists and 8 steals.

 

• Harlee Young became the eighth girls’ player in Burlington history to hit the 1,000-point milestone, reaching it with a career-high 27 points in last Tuesday’s win over Wellsville.
• Lyndon’s Jolie Hielscher hit 8 of 13 3-pointers in the Tigers’ loss to Lebo, breaking the school record for 3-pointers made in a game. The old record was seven, set by Claira Spurgeon in 2018 and tied by Allie Knielser this season. Hielscher scored 25 of the Tigers’ 27 points in the game.
• Kreighton Klima had a big week in leading Linn’s boys to a pair of wins. He scored 20 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in a 78-63 win over Valley Heights and then was on fire from 3-point range in a 55-41 win over Wetmore, hitting 7 of 9 from deep on his way to 27 points and 6 rebounds. Gavin Turk added 20 points on 10-of-12 shooting in the Valley Heights win and Anthony Ayala added 12 assists.
• Mission Valley’s girls improved to 15-2 with wins over Wabaunsee (48-32) and Marais des Cygnes Valley (63-24). Kyplee Jacobson had a double-double against MdCV with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Adaline Bloomfield and Lillie Foster each scored 16. Paige Martin had 12 points, 7 rebounds, 8 steals and 4 blocks to led the win over Wabaunsee.
• In a big win over rival Rossville, Silver Lake’s MaKenzie McDaniel recorded 29 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocked shots as the Eagles improved to 16-1 overall.
• Linn’s Marcela Huerta exploded for a career-high 37 points in a win over Wetmore on Friday. Huerta was 17 of 25 from the field and 3 of 4 on free throws and also grabbed 8 rebounds.
• Aceyn Cash helped Concordia to its first win over Abilene since 2014, grabbing 15 rebounds in the Panthers’ 57-52 win last Tuesday. He then added 25 points in a win over Chapman on Friday.
• Keller Hurla had a monster scoring week for St. Marys in wins over Centralia and Rock Creek. Hurla scored 26 against Centralia and the followed it up with a 41-point explosion against Rock Creek.
• Southeast of Saline’s Reagan Goetz hit 6 3-pointers and went 6 of 7 at the free throw line in a 34-point outburst against Minneapolis on Friday.
• Valley Fall’s Korie Kirkwood scored a career-high 27 points and added 15 rebounds in a 42-32 win over McLouth last Friday.
• Clay Center’s Hailee Bent scored all 19 of the Tigers’ first-half points in last Friday’s 47-38 win over Marysville and finished with 24 points overall.
• Frankfort freshman Wes Anderson averaged 18 points per game last week, shooting 47% from 3-point range.
• In wins over Horton and McLouth, Jefferson County North’s Emily Langley averaged 16.5 points and 10 rebounds, hitting 13 of 21 shots. Macy Thompson averaged 12 points and 10.5 rebounds and was 12 of 22 from the field.
• In four games since the mid-season tournament week, Valley Falls’ Zac Evans has averaged 23 points per game, including games of 16 and 17 points last week against McLouth and Atchison County, respectively. He scored 11 in the fourth quarter against Atchison County.
• Abilene’s Triston Cottone went off for 34 points as the Cowboys topped Wamego 65-57 in four overtimes.
• Manhattan’s Maxine Doering had 15 points, 16 rebounds and 6 steals in a game last week.
• West Franklin’s Sarah Voth grabbed 18 rebounds in the Falcons’ game on Feb. 10.
• Silver Lake freshman Dayne Johnson hit 5 of 8 shots and 6 of 9 free throws on his way to 16 points in a 58-41 win over Rossville. Troy Heiman added 14 points and Elijah Lopez had 13, each hitting 5 of 7 shots.